Book-rack.



E. L. W'EED.

BOOK RACK.

.APPLICATION m50 ocr. 29. m4.

1,260,610. Patented Mar. 26, 1918.

Edwafdlgzaeed ilirllilllEiD STATE EDWARDNL. WEEDQOF PROVIDENCE,RHODEISLAND.

v:soon-RACK.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patentd 1%;11326, jlg,

Application iledctcber 29, 1914; Serial No. 869,312.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it know-n that I, EDWARD L. W'EED, a citizen of the UnitedStates,'and resident of the city of Providence, in the county ofProvidence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Book-Racks, of which the following is21,'specification.

The invention relates to improvements in book racks and has for itsobject to provide simple and effective means adapted to moveautomatically into the space left when a book is removed from theracklforsupporting the remainingadjacent books in position during itsabsence.

A further object of the invention is to so arrange these supportingmembers so that they are controlled in their action by actual contactwith the books, themselves, so that the act of removing the bookautomatically releases one or more of said members to move to operativeposition into the space left and in the replacing of the book, it comesin Contact with these members and forces them back into inoperativeposition.

W'ith these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction, as will be more fully described, andparticularly pointed out in lthe appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1- is' a perspective view illustrating a book rack with a portionof the books removed showing the supporting fingers as raised into thespaces left by the books to support those remaining.

Fig. 2- is a plan view showing the arrangement of the rack with amultiplicity of lingers a portion of which are shown as raised and aportion being down forming the licor of the rack, all of said fingersbeing pivoted at one end in the rack.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the book rack partly in section showingone of the fingers as moved t0 raised position -by the spring and othersas being down in inoperative position.

Fig. 4- is an enlarged view showing the hinged portion of one of thefingers.

Fig. 5- is an enlarged perspective view of one of the finger operatingsprings.

Fig. 6- is a perspective view of one of the spacing washers which areplaced between the lingers.

Referring to the drawings 10 designates a book rack which may-be madeofwood, metal or other suitable material and 1n any suitable shapeorform. The rack in some Vcases is adapted to Vform the shelf of a bookcase and in other instances it may rest upon the shelf of a casepreviously constructed.

The `rack is herein shown as being constructn ed` in a rectangular formwith a front bar 11, a rear bar 12 and a middle bar 13. Both the frontand the rear bars are preferably notched on their upper inner edges asat 14 and 15, respectively,`for the reception of the supporting lingers16, which are adapted to lie in the `frame and extend Vlaterallyacrossbetween these side bars. VThese fingers are of the depth of therecesses in the bars so that when pressed down into position 4they willbe fiush with the upper face of the bars and will form a licor or baseto assist in the support of the books placed in the rack. The front endof each finger is preferably notched or forked as at 17, see Fig. 4, anda hole or aperture 18 is formed in the stock between the branches of thefork for the reception of the end of the spring presently described andthe ends of them will not cause them to spring sidewise sufiicient tocontact or interfere with each others action.

In order to cause these fingers to rise automatically into the spaceleft by the withdrawn book, I have provided a flat spring 21, see Fig.5, bent with a loop portion 22 adapted to spring over and removablyengage the pivoting rod 20, one of its ends 23 being adapted to enterthe hole 18 of the finger and its other end 24 being arranged to engageand receive its fulcrum against the inner wall 25 of the front bar 11.

My device is so constructed that as a volume is removed from the rackthe lingers under action of their respective springs will rise whenreleased by the weight of the book to take up the vacated space andprevent the adjacent books from moving sidewise and When a volume isreturned its inner edge rests upon these fingers and forces them 'downinto inoperative position or into position to form a floor for the bookas the volume is pushed into place.

Therefore it will be seen that the fingers serve a double purpose whichis that of acting as spacers when a volume is removed and also as afloor or base for the support of the books in the rack.

I claim:

1. An improved book rack comprising a base provided with front and rearbars provided With shoulders, a pivot rod supported by said base andextending parallel With said bars, a plurality of iingers extendingtransversely of said base, and each having a longitudinal recesstherein, and flat metal springs each having an intermediate loop portionremovably engaging said pivot rod, one end of each spring bearingagainst the inner face of one of said bars, the other end thereoi:`being extended into the recess of one of said lingers, each fingerhaving a beveled Copies ot this patent may be obtained for ing in fromthe forked end between the arms of the fork, said arms being providedwith beveled portions serving as stops, and fiat metal springs eachhaving an intermediate loop portion engaging said pivot rod, one end ofeach spring bearing against the inner face of one of said bars, theother end thereof being extended into the recess of a contiguous finger.

In testimony whereof I ai'liX my signature in presenceof two Witnesses.

EDWARD L. WEED. Witnesses:

HOWARD E. BARLOW, A. F. MACREADY.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner oi Patents.

Washington, IJ. C.

